Energy

RFA Cites Small Refiner Exemption Concerns

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen sent a letter last week to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt expressing concern about a troubling “lack of transparency” in EPA’s management of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) small refinery exemption provisions that could “destabilize the market for renewable fuels and undermine Congress’s goals for the RFS program.”

EPA has the ability to exempt small refineries with crude oil throughput of no more than 75,000 barrels of crude per day from RFS obligations if they demonstrate that the program would lead to “disproportionate economic hardship.” In the past, EPA has generally exercised restraint and judiciousness in issuing exemptions for small refiners, but recent reports suggest EPA has received requests for exemptions from dozens of small refiners, and RFA believes the public has a right to better understand EPA’s decision-making process for granting or denying exemption requests.

The small refiner issue was brought up several times on a panel last week at the National Biodiesel Conference featuring petroleum industry representatives.

American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO Chet Thompson, SIGMA CEO Ryan McNutt, and Rob Underwood with the Petroleum Marketers of America Association all joined NBB CEO Donnell Rehagen to talk through the RFS issues.